$40/year for the WaPo and you can pay with PayPal or Apple. You don’t give them any more money than any other online vendor.
For example, Netflix is $84/year. Netflix content seems a lot more valuable then simply twice what WaPo provides.
They'd rather watch TV, and not even the best TV. If you want the best, you need to pay for Max and Disney and Apple and Amazon and the rest.
Besides, if you actually like to read why would you be buying washington post? People who like to read usually aren't going into 5 minute long shallow articles, they are getting a book on the topic.
Either way, producing quality journalism costs money. And I’m ok paying a reasonable fee for it. :shrug: